Su Ying had no intention of arguing with him and said coolly, “I don’t know you. You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
She took Pei Xiu by the hand and continued on. Ming Zhou stood there for a while, then unwillingly followed after them.
“On the twenty-eighth of last month, I was bitten by a snake on the Back Mountain of Guling Mountain. You applied herbs to the wound for me. Don’t you remember?”
Guling Mountain was overrun with venomous snakes. The fog had been thick that day, and he had not gotten a clear look at the snake. He had been debating whether he should cut off his left hand to save his life.
Before he could bring down the blade, he encountered a young woman walking out of the fog.
She wore a simple garment of coarse hemp cloth, her long hair neatly tied into a ponytail with a strip of cloth. Her cool, unadorned face was strikingly pure. With a bamboo basket on her back, she walked slowly out of the fog, seeming like an immortal who had appeared from thin air.
Her clear, almond-shaped eyes swept over his wound, and she said calmly, “There’s no need to cut it off. The snake wasn’t venomous.”
When Ming Zhou said nothing, she assumed he did not believe her and added, “If it had been venomous, the wound would already have swollen and turned black while I was speaking to you.”
Only then did Ming Zhou come back to himself and look down. The wound was slightly swollen, but the skin around it had indeed not changed color.
Su Ying took an herb from her bamboo basket. “Apply this. The swelling will go down soon.”
“Th-thank you…”
Ming Zhou hurriedly reached out to take it, but then saw her lower her eyes in thought. She put the herb into her mouth, chewed it to a pulp, and applied it to his wound before walking away without looking back.
It was quite some time before Ming Zhou seemed to awaken from a dream. He looked toward the figure that had already vanished into the fog and murmured,
“Could it be that the mountain god has answered my prayers?”
Later, while out hunting, he saw that same herb again.
As though possessed, he plucked a leaf and put it into his mouth.
The instant he bit down, an intensely bitter flavor shot straight to the crown of his head. He spat it out at once.
For several days afterward, his lips and tongue remained bitter.
Thus, Ming Zhou became even more certain that the person he had met that day was the mountain god—until…
He brought his injured younger brother to demand an explanation and saw Su Ying carrying a young man out of the courtyard.
“The fog on the Back Mountain of Guling Mountain was very thick that day, and there was even a sudden downpour that night…” Ming Zhou’s hopeful gaze searched her face. “Are you truly unable to remember?”
Su Ying’s expression remained as cold as before. “I was at home that day. I didn’t go anywhere.”
Pei Xiu, who had remained silent all along, slowly clenched his palm.
The twenty-eighth of last month… Su Ying had only returned from Guling Mountain just before curfew. That day, she had even asked him whether they should move somewhere else…
Why had she deliberately concealed it? Could she really not remember?
“How could that be…”
A trace of bewilderment crossed Ming Zhou’s face, but it quickly darkened. His eyes burned as he said, “I couldn’t have mistaken you. Did you get the date wrong? Those few days…”
“What exactly do you want?” Su Ying interrupted him again, her voice cold.
Ming Zhou was rendered speechless.
Meeting those clear eyes, he swallowed slightly. His voice was somewhat hoarse when he said, “I only wanted to thank you…”
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
After leaving him with those words, Su Ying ignored him completely and hurried away, still holding Pei Xiu by the hand.
Once they returned to the courtyard, Pei Xiu immediately went to fetch a bucket of water. He wanted to bathe and change clothes. Disgusted by the smell of sweat on his body, he had not wanted to stay too close to Su Ying along the way.
Unfortunately, without his white cane, a blind man was no different from an invalid. He could not even walk on his own.
“I’ll do it.”
Su Ying reached for the bucket in his hand, but Pei Xiu shifted slightly to avoid her. “I’ll do it myself.”
He pressed his cracked lips together, his voice so soft that it carried a hint of pleading. “Su Ying, I can do it.”
“All right.”
Su Ying did not insist and turned toward the kitchen.
She had just put the porridge on to cook when a tremendous crash rang out from the courtyard, accompanied by the faint sound of splashing water.
Su Ying did not turn to look. She merely lowered the fire beneath the stove slightly, allowing the porridge to simmer over a low flame.
Pei Xiu was gentle by nature, but deep down, he was exceptionally strong-willed.
Even with his impaired vision, he had always insisted on handling everyday tasks such as dressing, tying up his hair, bathing, and washing himself.
Only occasionally, when it was truly inconvenient for him—for instance, on the night he had been beaten so badly that he could barely get up—would Su Ying take the initiative to help with certain things.
There were exceptions as well—for instance, just now, when Pei Xiu had refused her help for reasons unknown to her. Su Ying would not insist either.
That was how the two of them had always gotten along: an unspoken understanding.
While the porridge cooked, Su Ying went to the mouth of the alley and bought several steamed buns. She had intended to buy some braised meat as usual, but after a moment’s thought, she turned around and bought some greens and pork fat instead. Then she went to the general store and bought a jar for the oil.
On the way back, she saw someone selling vegetable seeds. Su Ying picked out several that could be planted at this time of year, planning to fence off a small patch in the courtyard later and bring in some soil to grow vegetables.
When she returned to the courtyard, she saw Pei Xiu sitting on a low stool beside the well, washing clothes.
He wore a sky-blue scholar’s robe with the sleeves rolled up. His black hair hung wetly over his shoulders, and the damp fabric clung lightly to his back, accentuating the lean, firm waist of a young man.
As a pampered young nobleman in the past, he had never done such rough work. His movements as he scrubbed the clothes were stiff and awkward, every motion revealing how ill at ease he was.
Seeing that clumsy appearance, Su Ying’s lips curved upward without her realizing it, forming a faint smile even she did not notice.
Without making a sound, she went straight into the kitchen.
Dinner consisted of thin porridge and steamed buns, along with a dish of greens stir-fried with the cracklings left after rendering the pork fat.
Su Ying had not quite mastered the heat. The greens were slightly overcooked and carried a faint bitterness, yet Pei Xiu ate them with great relish.
He even filled a second bowl of porridge—a first for him.
After dinner, Su Ying went to sort through the bamboo basket and discovered the potatoes and salted meat she had bought that morning. At the very bottom was a large pomegranate.
“Would you like some pomegranate?” she asked.
Pei Xiu paused, then nodded lightly.
Su Ying had gone hungry since childhood. Being able to eat steamed buns and plain porridge had been enough to make her content, and she had never developed the habit of buying fruit. As a result, Pei Xiu had not eaten any fruit in the past six months either.
Not knowing how to cut a pomegranate, she simply divided it into four pieces and placed them on a small dish.
As usual, Pei Xiu sat beneath the veranda with his long legs curled up, his head turned slightly toward the kitchen as he quietly waited for her.
For no particular reason, Su Ying thought of the wicker chair at Qin’s Pharmacy and made a mental note to get one for Pei Xiu as well.
No, two of them. One for each of them.
She placed the dish in Pei Xiu’s arms. “You know how to open a pomegranate, right?”
Pei Xiu nodded.
Before the sun had set, the water in the vat, which had been basking in the sun all day, still held some residual warmth. Su Ying left Pei Xiu there and carried the water inside to bathe.
After washing, she sat with him beneath the veranda and let the midsummer evening breeze dry their hair.
“Su Ying,” the young man called softly.
Su Ying turned her head. A dish piled with glistening pomegranate seeds was being held out in front of her.
“I washed my hands.” Pei Xiu paused, then added, “I washed them very carefully.”
The cicadas shrilled noisily, and the summer wind was hot and humid. For no reason at all, it stirred up a restless confusion in her heart.
Su Ying lowered her eyes to the dish of pomegranate seeds. “You saved these for me?”
“Mhm. I’ve already eaten,” he replied.
Su Ying’s gaze shifted to the neatly stacked pomegranate peels in front of him. There were no pomegranate seeds among them.
…What a little liar.
Pei Xiu would never swallow the seeds along with the fruit the way she did.
She casually grabbed a handful of pomegranate seeds and pushed the dish back toward him. “I can’t eat this many. Have some more. Pomegranates don’t keep well, so don’t waste them.”
Pei Xiu placed the dish back on his knee, picked up a single seed, and tasted it carefully. Turning to the side, he slowly spat out the seed.
Watching his excessively refined movements, Su Ying found it somewhat amusing. She took his hand and placed a small handful of pomegranate seeds in his palm.
“Who eats pomegranate like that? Can you even taste it that way? You have to eat it like I do—”
Su Ying stuffed all the seeds in her hand into her mouth and said indistinctly, “Take a big bite.”
Pei Xiu stared blankly for a moment, then obediently put the small handful of pomegranate seeds into his mouth. As the abundant, sweet juice slid down his throat, his eyes narrowed slightly.
“Su Ying.”
“…”
“It’s very sweet.”